to set fires rather than put them out. the speedboat even towed the burned up craft to the land. the occupant jumped overboard and made it safely to shore. though the boat was a complete wreck, at least its 25 gallons of fuel didn't blow up and start a fire. thanks soth speedboat's spray. the fire dispatch manager had a message for the mystery speedboaters. >> just pakipaki -- >> pakipaki, mr. bond. in this case, where there's fire, now there's only smoke. sos, splash our ship. jeanne moos, cnn. new york. >> very ingenious and very smart. i'm impressed. that's it for us. thanks very much for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts erin burnett "outfront" starts right now.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com tonight, congress told america it saved america from the fiscal cliff. but that doesn't add up. plus, chris christie goes ballistic on the hated congress and john boehner will show the outburst to you and police say two new yorkers have been arrested with the means and the know how for a terrorist attack. let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone. "outfront" tonight, america, or homer simpson. like homer, we blythely skated to the precipice of the fiscal cliff with a deal that made almost everyone happy. low tax rate, extended benefits. sure sounds heavenly. but look what happens next. >> are we going make it?

this is the greatest thrill of my life. i -- >> yeah, that's how it ends. that feeling of weightless euphoria, believes there was no way he would ever crash, there would be a last minute save. that was america today. the dow surged 380 points. congress patted itself on the back. why wouldn't they? that was a big reward. the problem is, the truth. congress sent america to the bottom because like homer, we're lying battered and bruised at the bottom. why? instead of cutting spending and raising revenue, which was the point, congress did the exact opposite.

boosting spending and slashing revenue. they increased the deficit. that is the ultimate cliff dive. the congressional budget office put these numbers out. they say the deal everybody celebrated will increase deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade because by extending the bush tax cuts for families who earn less than $450,000 a year, the deal cut revenue. money that would have paid in taxes by $3.64 trillion and on top of that, it increased other spending by an additional $332 billion. that deal was really just a small band-aid on america's battered body. all it did was kick the can for two months on the cut that were set to go into effect today. truth is, congress didn't have the courage to deal with the plan now, and left us at the bottom of the pres pouse, but only they can get us out. on the last day of a lame duck session where the deadline the entire world was watching and judging them on, how can we

expect them to solve the problem in two months at a new cliff deadline? after all, they've had a lot of chances. there was a debt ceiling in the summer of 2011. remember that whole negotiation to try to get a grand bargain? they failed. this country got downgraded. they had another chance with the supercommittee, which was charged with cutting the debt. it failed and that failure led to this fiscal cliff deadline, which was supposed to be so draconian and frightening. we know there are a lot of smart and thoughtful people in congress. people who know the right thing to do, might cost them re-election and are willing to lose because of that. i believe that as an american citizen, but if this deadline didn't get them to step up, what will? up next, bill brooks. pimco is the largest mutual fund. always good to see you. you know -- >> thank you, erin. >> it's sort of a depressing situation in a since. we got another cliff coming.

the whole debt ceiling debate coming again. how dangerous is the current situation? >> well, i think it's very dangerous. you just mentioned that the point in time where we have a debt ceiling, the government has to have what they call a continuing budget resolution. they need to fix the sequester, which they didn't fick, so they have three appointments in the next two months in which something has to be done. we've seen what happens in this case over a long weekend, so it's a dangerous situation and i perhaps not like homer simpson, i don't want to say do, but it's fair to say that taxes on all americans have gone up here over the past few days. the average american wage earner earning $50,000 a year will pay $1,000 more in taxes over the next 12 months, so not only have they not reduced spending, but they've increased taxes for basically 100% of americans.

>> which is something obviously people isn't the time to do that. you may need to do that when the economy's stronger, but not yet. but we've talked about how supercommittee, they are going to cut $4 trillion. all that being a down payment on the much bigger problem. the imf has pointed out. a $16 trillion problem in this country. we can't even get a deal now that cuts anything. we've increased the deficit. >> we did that. and as well, which hasn't been publici publicized. they continued $75,000 billion worth of film, for you know, other wind farm et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. the congress is in a gift giving mode and not in a reduce spending mode, which they need

to do. you point out a number of the troll dollars they have to reduce ch they've basically raised $100 billion worth of taxes here on an annual basis. we think they have to reduce spending by two to three hundred billion dollars a year. it's a situation in which the american public is is having less and less faith in terms of their ability to act. >> and i guess the question is what about people like you and your faith because as long as you still have faith, you buy american bonds, this country can still borrow for basically nothing and that enables congress to keep spending money and saying there's no problem. don't worry about downgrades, but at some point, people like you are going to say america may not pay us back. we can't necessarily trust america. i'm going to charge you a much higher interest rate. will that day ever come? >> well, i think it's inevitable. at this point, to be fair, the federal reserve is buying about

80% of all treasuries. they're writing checks for a trillion dollars worth of fed purchases to fund the treasury, but at some point, you know, investors and federal reserve will run out of check writing room. inflation will increase and the deficit will just sink us down in terms of an economy. >> steven englander said the whole process, as you say, pathetic, that we're likely to see a further u.s. downgrade. again, i caveat it with the u.s. got downgraded and the interest rating haven't risen. maybe that's because the rest of the world is worse off than the u.s. and being relly good isn't necessarily being strong. what's the likelihood the u.s. gets downgraded again and in a way that could really affect all of us? >> agencies have stated they were the firm -- of negotiations lead to policies, which lower

the debt to gdp rh owes. it's a little technical. and clearly, they have not. we have not seen that over the weekend. but i wouldn't expect the agencies to do, to hold things here. they've proven in the past to do the bidding of clients as opposed to investor, but investors should wise up before the agencies wise up. perhaps a few years down the road. the situation is deteriorating and the happy, good feelings that homer r simpson expresses, you know, in your opening cartoon, basically are something to be concerned about. >> all right. bill gross, thank you very much. we appreciate your time. pathetic situation an one that must be remedied. next, the chris christie storm over sandy relief. he took a direct and ferocious stab at joboehner. that's one reason some are calling for boehner to lose his job tomorrow. and the developing health condition of hillary clinton.

try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. are you flo? yes. is this the thing you gave my husband? well, yeah, yes. the "name your price" tool. you tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. careful, though -- that kind of power can go to your head. that explains a lot. yo, buddy! i got this.

gimme one, gimme one, gimme one! the power of the "name your price" tool. only from progressive. your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. to divvy up this shared data plan...fairly. so, um, whoever's fathered the most children,

gets the most data. let's just do it by hair. body hair? most dental work. what? [ phones buzzing and beeping ] stop downloading, and stop liking everything. it should be by who has the least amount of cartilage in their left knee. [ mom ] i just want to take a bath. [ male announcer ] say no to sharing. say yes to sprint. with truly unlimited data, text and calling.

our second story "outfront," john boehner in an about face announceded today he's going to hold a vote friday on a bill that will provide relief for sandy victims. this is after he allowed congress to adjourn last night. it shocked many and led to a public smack down by fellow republicans. >> in our hour of desperate need, we've been left waiting for help six times longer than the victims of katrina with no end in sight. americans are tired of the palace intrigue and political partisanship of this congress which places one ups man ship ahead of the lives of these citizens who sent these people to washington, d.c. in the first place. new jerseyians and new yorkers

are are tired of being treated like second class citizens. new york deserves better than the selfishness we saw last night. new jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw on display last night. america deserves bert than just another example of a government that has forgotten who they're there to serve and why. 66 days and counting. shame on you. shame on congress. disaster relief was something that you didn't play games with. but now in the current atmosphere, everything is the subject of one ups man ship. everything is a possibility, a potential piece of bait for the political game and it's just -- it is why the american people hate congress. >> republican congressman peter king of new york said that john boehner's action was like a knife in the back and had threatened not to vote for him for speaker again. >> what was most galling about this is that within ten days of

katrina, we gladly voted $60 billion and went over 100 billion ultimately. it's now nine weeks since sandy struck long island and new york, new jersey and we have not gotten a penny from the united states congress and we play by the rules. >> new jersey and new york were among the hardest hit by sandy. the hardest hit and of course, they are states to send the lot more to washington than they get back. "outfront" tonight, gregory meeks of new york, he represents a district that suffered some of the most damage. a lot of people below the poverty line and aren't able to have that big megaphone and ask for what they need. the speaker says now he's going to schedule a vote on friday for about $9 billion in flood insurance and then on the 15th of january, so another ten days away. 13 days away, is going to have another $51 billion. is this good enough for you? >> you know, i'm nervous. because we thought we had a deal last night. we were fully expecting to vote on that today. we don't want the rules to

change. going to have a new congress now. we thought this would have been done in the 112th. now it goes over to the 113th. so i hope the speaker will be able to deliver the votes that we knew that we had last night. deliver the $9 billion and then that will leave with in the bill, we got the bill for the additional 18 billion for the 27 and then an amendment for another 33 billion, all of which will be done if the speaker keep his word, on the 15th of january. >> i know everyone's been criticizing john boehner, but it's not just disaster relief. that's always the problem. part of what america hates about congress is when disaster relief comes along, it's an opportunity to stick all sorts of other junk into a bill. so they had into the $60 billion aid package that went through the senate that would have helped, $150 million for fisheries in alaska.

$2 million to repair loose damage on smithsonian institution damage in washington that predates the storm. not huge amounts of the scheme of america, but why is that in this bill? >> it wasn't and that's what was disheartening and why my colleagues, peter king and michael grimm worked so hard. the speaker said there were certain things in the senate bill. and it was taken out of the house bill, so those items are not in the house bill. the mayor, the governors, both christie and cuomo came and made sure, they itemized everything and those items were not included in the house bill. >> all right, so those are taken out. that's one good thing. we're in an environment where a fiscal cliff deal comes along and nobody's really thrilled about what they got, but we did get something that increases deficits, so people say how can we go no matter how good the cause and spend another $60

billi billion. >> emergency disaster funding have always been different. americans. and when americans are in trouble because of a national disaster, we come to one another's aids. what we were concerned about, democrats and republicans, individuals from new york, connecticut, new jersey, but we also had colleagues come from around the country, is that why change the standards now? because the standards have been the same. when katrina happened, let's do it. within ten days. $60 billion was there. when there's a small town, where there's a tornado or some other national disaster, we say let's do it. that's what makes america different. and here, we have now -- >> 66 days. >> individuals still without power. out of their homes. individuals who are still suffering from this storm and it seems as though the rules are trying to change. speaker did not allow a vote on the floor, we thought we had an agreement. so my, and i think that's why

you saw the unanimous between democrats and republicans. >> you and michael grimm. yes. >> because when you go and talk to the people in my district as you have, and you look into their eyes, and you can see their hurt. and that's why in my state on the floor today, i was asking the speaker to walk with me. come talk to these people as mr. hoyer. come walk with miachael grimm o peater king or governor cuomo or christie and you'll see and talk to these people and you'll know talking democrat, a republican, you're talking to an american and that's what's important. we should kick aside all of the political gains that we play in washington, d.c. when it comes time for disaster, to help our american citizens.

>> thank you very much. and still to come, two new yorkers in a very trendy area of the city, wealthy, well educated, every pedigree you could imagine, arrested for possessing what police say is a terrorist encyclopedia. and president obama says he won't tolerate a debate over the debt ceiling. really? we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much. i appreciate it. i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. your money needs an ally. i've always had to keep my eye on her... but, i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics.

they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. so, the 5.3-liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds? 315 horsepower. what's that in reindeer-power? [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevy's giving more. now through january 2nd, no monthly payments until spring for qualified buyers. get the silverado for 0% apr financing for 60 months plus $1,000 holiday bonus cash. plus trade up for an additional $1,000 trade-in allowance.

our third story, the terrorist encyclopedia. that document among bomb related materials police say belonged to a young couple living in a high-end apartment in greenwich

village. the couple are in police custody. they've been charged with felony possession of an explosive with intent to use. susan candiotti is "outfront" with their story. >> it's not the kind of activity you'd expect in an apartment in a posh section of manhattan, but when police raided their apartment, they found explosive material called hmtd and chemicals used to make it along with two shotguns, a flare gun and high capacity magazines. >> hmtd is extremely vulnerable and that's why the building was evacuated and -- put on note because of the able thety of this to just go off at any given time. >> as shocking, the suspects come from successful families. aaron green's father is a successful business own er.

morgan's dad is a well-known doctor who owns the build wrg the two lived rent free. a law enforcement source says the two met in rehab and that her family believes green was the instigator. what appears to have been going on? >> we're still trying to determine precisely, but the biggest cause for concern was the explosives. >> hmtd is a signature al qaeda bomb making material. it was used successfully in the 2005 london subway bombing attack. and the new york city subway plotter tried to use it, but had trouble making it. >> it's a highly unstable bomb making element that is so unstable that terrorists have tended in the past to steer away from it because it's difficult to transport and to handle and can easily go off. >> police were turned on to the suspect by the tip.

the alleged bomb makers invited a couple over to use the showers. that's when aaron green allegedly showed off the weapons and even blew up a small amount of explosives, right there in the apartment. law enforcement sources say the incident happened six weeks ago and authorities say the tipster might have been moved the call the police after the newtown school shooting. did they have a beef against anyone? against the government? any writings? >> we're trying to identify precisely as you said, was there a target? was there a cause that they were adhering to? what was the objective, the goal of having all of this information and weaponry? >> certainly seems very bizarre. when you look at these two people, 27 and 31 years old. did either of them have a criminal background? just come out of the blue?

>> not as far as we know in terms of the young woman in this case. now, the young man has four prior convictions. spent a year in jail in 2005 on an assault charge. now, law enforcement sources tell us they met in rehab. she was treated for alcoholism, he for heroin use. where it went from there, they're still trying to piece it together. >> still trying to figure out what their cause was and what they might have been targeting. >> they haven't yet entered a plea just yet. she's still in the hospital because she just gave birth the other day to a baby. >> which is one of the most bizarre parts about the story. >> thanks very much. keep following the story since it is very strange and frightening. next, many republicans broke ranks with the speaker of the house last night. they voted against the fiscal cliff deal. it was a pretty overwhelming reputeuation of him. so, does that mean he's going to be speaker anymore? and new information about

hillary clinton to be the tonight. helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. live the regular life. phillips'.

...so as you can see, geico's customer satisfaction is at 97%. mmmm tasty. and cut! very good. people are always asking me how we make these geico adverts. so we're taking you behind the scenes. this coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. it's not real. geico's customer satisfaction is quite real though. this computer-animated coffee tastes dreadful. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 % or more on car insurance. someone get me a latte will ya, please?

welcome back to the second half of "outfront." we start with stories we're watching tonight, secretary of state hillary clinton has just been released from a new york city hospital. she had been being e treated for a blood clot located between her brain and skull. according to the state department, doctors expect her to make a full recovery. she was seen out of the hospital today. former president become and

daughter, chelsea, were by her side and earlier today, a spokesperson said she was on the phone, speaking with aides and foreign officials. the united nations came out with a stunning number today, estimating the death toll in syria has passed 60,000 people since the uprising began just over 18 months ago. now, just to put this in perspective, 60,000 is a lot of people. every one of them a human life and it is 50,000 more lives lost than cnn previousliest mated, a huge increase. the u.n. high commissioner for human rights said collectively, we have fiddled at the edges while syria burns. tom corbett plans to file a lawsuit against the ncaa. he has the agency had no -- against penn state following the sandusky sex abuse scandal. they levied heavy sanctions

against the university, including a $60 million fine. he said the sanctions are hurting curt students. the ncaa fired back saying the lawsuit lacking merit and called it an affront to all of the victims. we got a rare glimpse today of -- who is is she? the wife of kim jong-un. this is a picture of them over the holidays. you can see her there in the purple sort of eggplant suit. north korean television say she accompanied her husband at a concert. there had been rumors she was pregnant or had fallen out of favor with north korean leaders. she tends to wear bright colors. it has been 517 days since the united states lost its top credit rating. a despite dodging the cliff technically, the problem deficits increase with the deal and moody's reiterated today a downgrade from this is on

horizon if congress does not come up with a long-term debt reduction plan. and that brings us to our fourth story "outfront," speaker in the hot seat. a message loud and clear to john boehner this week, do not take your party's support for granted. 151 republicans, 151, broke ranks with boehner and voted against the fiscal cliff deal. those republicans include some very powerful figures. eric cantor, kevin mccarthy, second and third highest ranking republicans in the house among them. a new congress is sworn in tomorrow, so boehner facing a crucial vote. will there be a revolt against him or despite some very public failures and the fact he wasn't even at the center of this whole debt deal itself, will he just sail into the speakership any way? this is a pretty, you know, amazing story. there's been a real repudiation, but how is this vote going to go is this.

>> people may not realize that the speaker of the house is elected by the entire house, not just his or her party, so there will be a vote on the house floor tomorrow and what is going to be really fascinating to watch, erin, is how the vote goes because the difference between republicans an democrats, if you do the math, if all democrats voted against him, all any opponent would need to do is get 17 republicans to vote against him and what then happens is he doesn't get the majority and they take another vote and if he doesn't get the majority, they take another vote. it certainly would weaken him. i can also tell you it is certainly the buzz here in the hallways in a big way. whether or not he is going to, and whether or not there is any quiet move among some of the rank and file republicans who are dissatisfied with with him to try to do that.

to try to weaken him. at least symbolically, to vote against him. i have had some quiet conversations with some republicans who say they have not decided if they're going to vote for him. they have said they are not stied with his leadership. the vast majority say they are and it was a very telling moment that the speaker's spokesman people came out of a meeting going on right now. excuse me, they came out to make sure to tell reporters they believe they're confident that the speaker will be re-elected by the house tomorrow. >> when we talk about john boehner, everyone would say if there is a quiet revolt, if there is some sort of despite the repudiation of his leadership, it's still expected he's going to remain speaker. the question is, who would the al te alternative be? everyone's saying eric cantor. who came out and said i don't support this deal. so is eric cantor someone who

possibly his name could come up here? >> he has been very careful, as have his aides, saying he is the speaker, he will vote for him tomorrow. no cantor coup in the works. if in fact there is something that shakes up the leadership, the thinking is is that cantor could go down with it. would go down with the leadership ship because those who would want a change would want a sea change and that it's hard to see cantor staying there. you really raise a good point that all this talk about will the speaker stay in his job, well, you have to have a speaker, so if not boehner, who? that is another discussion i'm having privately with republicans tonight even in the hallways here. they don't see who the person would be to replace him. >> all right. thank you very much. obviously, dissatisfaction with the question who could be wetter. who will bat boehner and who

won't? "outfront," someone who's going to make the decision. republican congressman james langford of oklahoma. new congress is sworn in tomorrow. you're going to be the chairman of the house republican committee. you are in leadership. as you just heard dana lay out, john boehner could lose just because of the way the math works. if just 17 republicans vote against him. do you support john boehner? >> i do, actually. i just walked out of that meeting she just referenced saying it was an internal procedure. there was actually no conversation at all of any type about a lack of support for john boehner. >> let me just understand why that is though because in the recent key moments of leadership, john boehner has not been able to deliver, right? there was the plan b right before christmas. that he was going to put out and couldn't even get back to the floor for his own party and then in the fiscal cliff deal, he was

the guy getting the deal, wasn't able to get it down. then senator mcconnell had to step in. if john boehner couldn't get that done, why is he going to be speaker? >> here's the challenge of it. the house passed sequestration documents this may. the mistake made, we're waiting on the senate to respond. he shouldn't have done face to face negotiations, get this out of regular order. the best way to accomplish a piece of legislation, and then we work on a compromise together between the two. that breaks down when the speaker begins to meet with president. or quite frankly, when you get down to the last 36 hours, you're trying to cram something in. it's much better to be able to push it and the speaker has said i'm going to focus on trying to get us back to regular order and stop these face to face gauc negotiatio negotiations. >> one of the things that makes

a speaker credible and powerful is is all of you. the other leadership. the rank and file falling behind him at tough moments. the fiscal cliff bill put out, you said you support john boehner, but you voted gens that bill that you brought to the floor, so in a sense, people like you are the ones eroding his leadership. >> here's the difference between speaker boehner and other speakers that have been there in the past. he doesn't demand unanimity behind him. he starts with you represent your district. you have to do that in the best wisdom you have coming out of your district. he doesn't demand unanimity. he demands we represent the people that elected us, then come here and get things done. some people, that throws them off and they want to see this strong lead er that demands everyone follow behind him. he's comfortable enough to say i didn't elect you, the people at home elected you and you represent them. >> part of the problem with that, you as an elected leader must experience this all the time. if you just did what your

constituents wanted, we want candy, we want tax cuts. more spending. that's what we want. that's what the fiscal cliff bill does. i know you voted against it, but isn't the whole point that sometimes as a member of congress, you don't necessarily vote for what your constituents want, you vote for what you think is best for the country? >> that is correct. but still based on the wisdom coming out of our own district. you're going to listen to not just the advice coming out of your district, but the collective common sense. you should do your research. i should know more about the bill than anyone back home. i have more access to data, but i still represent what's going on at home. there are going to be times that votes have taken a lot of heat back home for how i took that vote, but i knew more about what was going on because able to get more data here. again, speaker's comfortable with that and that's a wise leader i think. >> we appreciate it.

"outfront" next, a girl in brazil put her virginity up for sale. shasta darling talked to her and asked her why. and with the fiscal cliff technically averted, you know our point of view. we're lying at the bottom. president obama has adopted a tough tone over the next fight. is that a mistake?

tyeah, its the galaxy note ii.re great. you can do two things at the same time. you can watch videos and text. or you could watch the earnings report and take notes, like we're supposed to. so... can i get it? yeah. okay either of you put together the earnings report? yes, me totally. why don't you tackle the next quarter while we go to lunch. pu pu platter? yup! keep up the good work. i will keep up the good work. do more with the new samsung galaxy note ii. for a limited time get two flipcovers for the price of one. exclusively at verizon.

we're back with tonight's outer circle where we reach out to our sources around the world and tonight, we begin in brazil

where a young woman has decided to sell her virginity to the highest bidder. >> erin, a brazil yap high school student has put her virginity up for sale. 18-year-old rebecca said she did it out of desperation. she made a video, she posted it on youtube hoping to raise enough money to help her inova lid mother, but the inspiration came from another brazilian woman whose offer to sell her virginity brought a lot of publicity and lucrative modeling contracts. in the case of rebecca, she said she made the decision after her mother suffered a stroke, which left her confined to the bed. she can't eat or go to the bathroom alone, but the video set off a fire storm around brazil and especially in -- the reaction in many cases was hostile. now, rebecca says she wants

enough money not only to care for her mother, but to start a new life in a new town. >> thanks very much. horrible story. and now, to northern nigeria, where the country's military has killed 13 e members of -- a militant organization that has some ties or links to al-qaeda. it happened after the group slaughtered several dozen people in the region over the past two weeks. david mckenzie has been covering the story and i asked him who was killed. >> since christmas eve, the violence in northern nigeria, more than 50 dead, 27 of them christian worshippers at church services. many gunned down by militants, their churches burned, some slip to nigerian government officials. the group blamed the militant islamic group that wants to enstall strict sharia law. recently, the group's leaders have experressed solidarity witl

quooid. rights groups say the government's response is dominated by killings and corruptions and has only worked to inflame further revenge attacks. ultimately, negotiations to long standing grievances on both sides could be only long-term solution, but right now, violence seems to be speaking louder than any words. >> and now, let's check in with ashleigh banfield. >> we're keeping them honest. it is the vote the house didn't hold last night that has lawmakers from both parties outraged. superstorm sandy inflicted tens of billions of dollars of damage to states along the east coast and it seems like relief for this kind of disaster and all the suffering would be above politics. it would seem. well, it was, yeah, sure, with the lawmakers promising to get it done until they didn't and just went home. no vote. no money. dana bash is going to join me

from capitol hill with all of the fincger pointing and how congress is now scrambling to fix it and survivors of sanity hook, they're going to head back to school tomorrow. gary tuckman is going to tell us what the students and teachers are going to be facing as those classes resume nearly three weeks after that deadly attack. we'll have those stories, as well as an interview with a state lawmaker who took a shot at a holiday with a press release, why must we still hear about kwanza tonight, it's number three. >> thanks very much. >> just a little different. >> all right. our fifth story "outfront," president obama talking tough in a very serious and aggressive way. would put -- to shame because while we're waiting for the president to sign the fiscal cliff bill into law, he has

drawn a line in the sand for what will be a very ugly battle over the debt ceiling. >> while i will negotiate over many things, i will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills they've already racked up through the laws they passed. >> now, he's totally right. congress has already spent the money it's not going pay back. but that's not the point. the point is i'm not going to negotiate on it? "outfront" tonight, riah, roland ma martin and john avlon. we've heard those kinds of promises before from the president. he gets angry about certain things and says he's just not going to do it. here he is on the bush tax cuts that he said $250,000, that's the limit. here he is. >> i'm not going to ask ask stus and seniors and middle class families to pay down the entire deficit while people like me

making over $250,000 aren't asked to pay a dime more in taxes. i'm not going to do that. congress can pass a law that would prevent a tax hike on the first $250,000 of everybody's income. everybody. >> sorrow la, roland you heard . he's doing it at 450. you can't say you won't negotiate on something you're going to have to negotiate on, right? >> actually you can. it's called negotiating position. we see it all the time. how many times have you had people when it comes to negotiating a contract i won't take less than this and then they do. that's what negotiation is all about. the whole point in having a hard stance is to for the opposition to come down on theirs. speaker boehner put out a proposal taxes on a million dollars. his own party rejected that. this is what you do in negotiations. take a hard line and you

typically are going to soften it when you get a compromise. >> the problem is now the president has come out and said, chastised congress appropria appropriately. said i'm not going to negotiate. this will embold enthem to be nasty center >> i think part of the issue is when you look at the most of the republican members of the house they are coming from safe districts so they are keeping their potential primary challenges and that's what emboldens them. they have to answer to conservative primary voters. there's another tension. when you look at president obama seeming to cave on that $250,000 number the thing to keep in mind a successful political coalition creates problems as well as opportunities. when barack obama does really well with those upper middle class voters in the suburbs that means you have a lot more tax sensitive voters than you do otherwise so that creates tensions for him as well. he's been saying hey i'm going

get more tax increases if i accept any spending cuts. there's a lot of democrats who are quite happy with that $400,000 line as well. this will complicate negotiations. these fractures among democrats as well as the hard position of republicans. >> smart position that he took or not? >> it's a tough position. every compromise is not a cave. in this specific instance president is telegraphing something specific saying he won't negotiate around the debt ceiling. look, the debt ceiling is going to come due. a lot of republicans are planning to use that as leverage. what the president is saying and saying very clearly he's made a political calculation out of the white house if republicans want to try to hold nation's full faith and credit in hostage and take us over the debt limit and have us default they have to own that politically. he's trying to say look -- hold

on, roland. that's a bad precedent. what we went through 500 days ago, that was a dangerous precedent for the united states and he wants to send a message that will be going forward because we can't proceed that way any further. >> roland? >> if you go back to what happened last time they were late in the game in using even president ronald reagan's own words when it came to the debt ceiling. i think you're going to see a lot more aggressive tact. what the president has done, basically with the fiscal cliff said no we're only dealing with tax. with the debt ceiling he's saying we're only dealing with the debt ceiling. if you want to have a debate when it comes to cuts then we'll deal with that. when it comes to sequestration. that important piece in the fiscal cliff deal the 60 day pushing out that's what he has done. the republicans wanted spending cuts to be part of fiscal cliff and debt ceiling and sequestration. he said no. it's a smart tactical move. we'll see if he's able to keep

them at bay. >> i want to remind people that president obama when he was senator obama voted against raising the debt limit as well. opposition parties use the limited leverage they have and barack obama recognized that in the past and now that he's on the other side of the negotiating table he thinks that should be taken off the table. the thing is this is connected to the sequester deal as well. president obama needs goodwill from republicans if he's going get movement on the sequester as well. these things are not going to be that easily separated. >> but the key is that it's incumbent upon the president to move a grand bargain forward to follow through on his rhetoric on entitlement reform. he has to be aggressive and work with them and offer real entitlement reform. >> practically delinking them doesn't make any sense opinion they are coming due at the same time and they are the same issue. >> that's right. he's going to have to reach out early and aggressively to get a grand bargain otherwise we'll have a game of chicken. you know what happened the last

time, we got downgrade and the whole nation got hurt. >> 100 luxury cars and $12 million in prizes. it can all be yours if you have the right camel. well we suddenly noticed that everything was getting more expensive so we switched to the bargain detergent but i found myself using three times more than you're supposed to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back to tide. they're cuter in clean clothes. thanks honey yeah you suck at folding [ laughs ] [ female announcer ] one cap of tide gives you more cleaning power than 6 caps of the bargain brand. [ woman ] that's my tide, what's yours?

aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u.s. postal service. we'll even drop off boxes if you need them.

visit usps.com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. any time of year. ♪ nice sweater. thank you. ♪

. there's a reason i came back from vacation on wednesday it's hump day. the perfect day for a camel report. what a report it is. after 15 straight days of festivals, celebrations and nail